- Gravel and bike packing tech, there's a lot of it here,
at NAHBS, so I think it is a bit of a crime
if we don't check it out, right?
Now we've been doing our best detective work here at NAHBS.
And on the Mavic stand here we found a wheel set,
which have yet to be released.
There isn't any information here,
and despite our best effort, we couldn't find out anything
apart from, they appear to be
gravel specific carbon fiber wheel set,
so we have to wait and see bit more about those coming soon
and I for one, am pretty excited.
Bike racks are certainly making a resurgence,
especially if you're going bikepacking in more remote areas
or if you want to carry loads of luggage.
We're here with Californian bike-builder
turned rack specialist Pass and Stow,
checking out the range that he makes here.
Now this one really caught my eye,
it gives you loads of space for carrying extra water,
so perfect if you're crossing a desert
or going into mountains where it's scarce.
And it even has internally rooted dynamo cables,
how swish is that?
Now we're here with on the stand with PRO,
who've got some really exciting new products to show us
from their Discover range,
really aimed at off-road and bikepacking.
We've got four new bags in the range,
including a seatpost bag, the frame bag, the handlebar bag,
and for you triathletes out there, a top tube bag.
Let's start with the seatpost bag,
it's got a 15 liter capacity and it's been
specifically designed to minimize the amount of sway
that you get whilst riding.
One of the ways that they do that,
is through these little foam blocks,
it goes just behind the seatpost and really allows you
to strap down tightly with a double velcro system on there.
Moving forward to the cockpit of the bike,
the handlebar bag actually comes in two parts,
so there's a strapping system which permanently stays
attached to the bike, and then a sort of dry bag system,
so that's really neat in that when you stop
at your destination, you want to unpack
or repack those bags, it's super simple,
you just undo two clips and you're away.
Another really cool thing about this handlebar bag
is that you've got these foam blocks once again
and this isn't just to protect your bars
but it actually allows your hands to get between the bars
and the bag, offering you loads more hand positions
which is something I've definitely struggled with
in the past.
Now let's take a look at the last two bags in this range,
they both share a really cool feature,
which is an external port at the front.
So whether you're running an external battery,
and you want some cables to go through,
or if you've got a water supply in there with a hose,
it's really easy to integrate it,
and another thing that I haven't actually mentioned yet,
is that PRO's also released two new bars
in the Discover range, now they're both flared,
either 12 degrees or 30 degrees,
and these are most definitely the 30 degrees.
I mean, check out the flare on that.
There are loads of different bikes here at NAHBS
with builds for very specific niches,
but this one certainly isn't.
This is the Allroad from Allied,
which takes road bike geometry and transforms it
into the gravel bike market,
so there's a single carbon fiber mold
which can be used both for road and gravel.
This model has 35 mil tire clearance,
so it's really versatile, both for gravel
and road applications.
And really cool detail on the down tube here
is this faceplate which allows you to use
a single carbon fiber design, both
for mechanical and electronic.
So in this case it's electronic setup,
that one goes on there, but if you were to choose
mechanical, it's its different faceplate
with two little holes there for your cable routing.
The last really cool thing about Allied is that
they do everything in house, from their base
in Little Rock, Arkansas, right the way through
from the carbon fiber tooling to the paint job, which,
as I am sure you'll agree on this one,
is absolutely stunning.
And one really neat little detail just to finish off,
is this Made Here logo with the full-stop pinpointing
exactly where this bike was designed and made.
One bike set-up so increasing in popularity
for gravel, cross, and bikepacking set-ups,
but not all major group sets are able to accommodate this.
That's where brands like Wolf Tooth Components
come in really handy, cause they make chain rings
both in standard and oval configuration
for loads of different brands, and then of course
once you've chosen that, you can choose your accessories
to match, cause they got some really cool
analyzed stuff here, so follow me over here.
You can choose from your axles, to your headsets,
streaming bolts, even seatpost collars, all to match
and from all of these, I definitely know
which one I'd choose.
If bikepacking is your bag, you're gonna wanna think about
how you're gonna carry your kit whenever you're on the road,
whether that's on your bike, or on yourself.
Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, custom bum bags,
and they brought them right here.
Master Stitcher Andrea is even on site here today,
showing us how it's done.
Too brown, too dark,
oh yeah, that's the one.
Now I can't guarantee that this is world first
but I've certainly never seen a gravel tandem before.
This is come fresh out of Santa Cruz, California
from the guys at Rock Lobster and it looks amazingly fun.
It's an aluminum welded frame with a custom steel fork,
it's got a slightly longer wheel base
than a conventional road tandem and of course lower gearing,
it's got really interesting suspension system on the back,
for the stoker
Now I wonder which of the GCN presenter
I could get to come for a ride on this with me.
If you've ever lost a rear derailleur on a ride or a race
or if you're used to conditions anything like
English winter ones, then you might want to think about
something different from a conventional chain and rear
derailleur set-up.
That's where this, the Gates Carbon Drive,
really comes into its own.
It's composed of these nylon teeth,
on a polyurethane backing, with the carbon fiber strands
running through the back there.
If you're a Harley Davidson type,
then you'll already be familiar with it.
As you can't run a rear derailleur with this one,
you've got two different options.
You can either run something like a pinion gearbox
on the bottom bracket, or you can use a hub base one,
like this Rohloff.
They're said to last two to three times longer
than a normal chain, and after your ride,
rather than having to completely degrease and then
re-lube it, you'll only have to wash it down,
which of course saves a lot of elbow grease as well.
Gives a massive thumbs-up from me.
Now as a true gravel geek, I hope you've enjoyed this tech
just as much as I have.
Remember to give us a big thumbs-up, check out
the GCN shop for cool tees like this,
and for more hottest tech here at NAHBS,
click just down here.
It's got a 15 liter capacity and it's been specific...
(she laughs)
A monocle.
How do you do it?
Looking on the wrong side.
Oh.
That's really hard.
I don't bend it that way.
But they seem to be a ca...
(she laughs)
Hub base, hub base.